For about 90 minutes a day — on off days — NHL coaches gather their players to work on things — defence, passing, breakouts, special teams — they hope will add up to two points.

But there is one element of the game that — if you’re good at it — adds up to one point all by itself: The shootout.

But it rarely gets practised. It’s more like an afterthought.

“I’d spend a lot of time on it,” says Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman. “It’s so important. The point is just sitting there.

“The more information you can get on goalies, and your shooters against their goalies, and their shooters against yours, it’s got to be a bonus. You see what works and what doesn’t work and you work on it.”

Now in its eighth season, it is only beginning to dawn on NHL coaches and players that the shootout is more than just a gimmicky tiebreaking mechanism. It is a tool that can mean the difference between making the playoffs and going golfing early.

“Every once in a while, we’ll have a little bit of a showdown,” said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. “But there’s a shootout presentation that takes place to our players, once a week. Goalie tendencies. We’re always watching video. Coaches, you think you didn’t do anything else. At times it feels that way. We watch a lot of the shootouts that take place.

“In reality, you try to get some kind of a book on the goaltenders and their tendencies and you try to get your own shooters getting comfortable and going out there and doing their thing,” said Carlyle.

Teams keep the book on goalie tendencies. Goalies keep a book on shooter tendencies.

“It’s a skill, you have to practice it,” said Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens. “If you give a guy a lot of time at the end of practice, he can get more creative at it, there’s no pressure. Same for goalies, you’re getting lots of reps. You’re seeing lots of looks, left- and right-handed guys. Forwards, defencemen. Skill guys.”

It’s easy for the shootout to fall by the wayside due to the pressures of the season.

“With the tight schedule, there are so many things you want to work on, we won’t have the luxury of time,” said Montreal coach Michel Therrien. “It’s not like an 82-game schedule where you have more quality practice. We don’t have that luxury this year.

“I wish to work on it a bit more. We did at training camp almost every day. But since we started the season, we haven’t worked on it like I wish.”

It may be happening in baby steps. Advances in scouting and statistics begin to break down hockey into its various smaller components.

There have always been role players — enforcers specifically, but also a general divide between checkers and scorers. Some scorers are power-play specialists. Some checkers are faceoff specialists.

The league hasn’t gotten to the point where a player will make the team as a shootout specialist, but scouts keep track of players who are successful at the shootout in junior hockey.

“Some players have a reputation and the numbers to back it up,” said Dan Marr, scouting director for NHL Central Scouting. “Some teams track it diligently, some teams not so much.

“It’s something you pay attention to, just like faceoffs. It’s more information toward a player skill’s set.”

The shootout specialist’s evolution is perhaps inevitable.

“But I know that it’s used as a skills factor at contract time,” said Marr.

Coaches try to make the shootout fun. Some have players bet on whether the shooter scores or the goalie makes the save by standing one side or the other of the ice. If you lose the bet, you skate a lap. Others make it a showdown, teaming up with one or the other goalie.

Typically, about 12 or 13 per cent of games go to shootout — this year is no exception — shooters score between 30 an 33 per cent of the time. This year, shooter success is at 36 per cent, but that may level off by the time the season is finished.

This lockout-shortened season could be the year the shootout specialist rises.

“With the tight standings, the short season, I really believe the shootouts will be even more crucial for teams,” said Flyers forward Danny Briere.

THE KEY TO SUCCESS:

Danny Briere, Flyers: “I always have my moves ranked. One play, two play, three play, and thinking about what I want to do. I’m going with No. 1 depending on the goalie I’m facing. But I always leave it open, depending on how the goalie moves. I might change my mind at the last second, depending on whether he’s standing in crease or out. I like to have somewhat of a plan going in, but leave it open for changes.

Steve Stamkos, Lightning: “You have to judge how far the goalie is coming out. Is he going to move, are you going to shoot, you going to deke? Is he a righty or a lefty? There are so many scenarios that go on in your head before you shoot. It’s different every time.”

Tyler Bozak, Maple Leafs: “I have a couple of moves I like to go to. If I tell you, then everyone would know. I can’t say. You kind of want an idea of what you’re going to do going in. If the goalie is out far, you kind of try to push him back in the net. Maybe move in a little faster. If he’s in the net, it’s a little easier to take the shot rather than deke. There’s always something you have to have in your minds. Everyone has their own ways. For me, I think a lot of false information is the main thing. A fake shot and get him to go down or slow him up a bit.”

Max Pacioretty, Canadiens: “I try and go in thinking shoot, and if I don’t see anything, then I resort to the deke. You’re asking the wrong guy, because I have a pretty bad shootout record.”

Alex Galchenyuk, Canadiens: “I’m not going to say my move. But I’ll do whatever comes to my head. I’ll probably know what I’m doing before I’m going in on shootout.”

Matt Frattin, Maple Leafs: “I wing it. I pretty much try to go same speed unless the goalie is out, I’ll speed up. If he’s back, I’ll slow down. I’ll kind of go with whatever the goalie gives me. I don’t really have a move in mind when I go.”

James van Riemsdyk, Maple Leafs: “It goes between what you see the goalie doing and what you see other guys doing. If you have a time in the game when you tried one, you won’t do the same one again. Or you do the same one again. It’s a chess game. You have to think about it a little bit. You have to go down and be confident and be assertive, and usually you have some success with it.”

Nazem Kadri, Maple Leafs: “I have my head up the whole time, depending if the goalie is on top of his crease or in the blue paint, or if his glove is low or blocker high. Variables change as you go down. I think the first thing I look for is how high a goalie is on his crease and where his hand is on his stick in case he likes to weasel a poke check. It’s important that you consider everything.”

Daniel Alfredsson, Senators: “I don’t have a favourite shootout, but I have a couple of moves that I like to try. Sometimes I don’t use any of my moves. We watch goalies on video in shootouts before every game so we know what we’re facing and their tendencies. We try to do similar things with how they were scored on earlier. In a shootout, you really just use whatever you’re most comfortable with whether it’s a move you’ve been working on. I practice it quite a bit. To me, it’s a pretty fun part of the game.”

THE GOALIES

James Reimer, Maple Leafs: “There are certain things I do, but I don’t want to let those things out to the public. We practice it. It’s great to practice it. The more practice you get at it the better. You know the players out there who are more likely to shoot than deke. Anyone is inclined to do anything at any give point. All these players are so skilled. The guy might be a shooter but he sees what you’re doing and he has something on you and he’s going to deke. You just have to play everyone honest.”

Ben Scrivens, Maple Leafs: “You’ve got to react to them. You’ve got to play it honestly. If you start guessing at what they’re going to do, all of a sudden you’re going left and they’re going right.”